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Monday, February 18, 2013

How social entrepreneurs are inspiring change across Africa

When 'Gbenga Sesan touched down onto the tarmac at Lagos airport, he folded up his ticket and tucked it into his jacket pocket. Hailing a cab straight to his office, he went to work right away. He was implementing what he had plotted out during the six-hour flight, and his airline ticket, covered in pencilled scribbles, was the blueprint for a new Lagos.

Sesan had just returned from Johannesburg, where he was one of 22 emerging leaders selected for theArchbishop Tutu leadership fellowship programme. Young Africans from business, government or development backgrounds had been selected in the early part of 2007, by the Africa Leadership Institute, and flown to a secluded conference centre in South Africa. There they were put through an intense series of seminars, discussions, lectures and exercises about leadership.